Secrets of the Heart
by ClaceLover001
Summary: Love. This is a four-letter word. Within these four letters is a secret that few people unlock in their lifetime. Many people think that they have found it- this special thing, but they are only lying to themselves. The secrets at Heart Academy are anonymous and everlasting, but the games have just begun. AU. All human.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot

 **Prologue**

Love. This is a four-letter word. Within these four letters is a secret that few people unlock in their lifetime. Many people think that they have found it- this special thing, but they are only lying to themselves. They conjure up imaginary imitations of love, but that is all that they are, imitations. An imitation is a copy, perhaps a very close one but not an original depiction.

I am no exception to this prevalent self-made law. There was a time at which I thought that I had finally decoded this unrelenting maze. I, along with everyone who has ever tried, failed. In my opinion, the game is rigged. They tell you nothing about love; nothing about how to find it; nothing about what it is. The only thing they tell you is that you have to find it. If it goes too long without being captured, it will cease to exist all together. Everyone wants to find the key. My name is Clary Fray, and I am going to unlock the secrets of the Heart.

 **Hi you guys! This is just an idea for a new story I was thinking about starting. Please review or PM about what you thought and whether I should continue this story.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Fray!" I almost break formation as the sound of my instructor Mr. Bane brings me back to attention. We are all in the assembly building standing in line for role call and it, along with everything else at the academy is done by rank.

There are only 75 of us here at Heart Academy and we're all competing for first place. This year Mr. asshole himself, Jace Herondale, holds the title. Just like he has for as long as anyone can remember. Now don't get me wrong he's one of the best here at Heart, but not _the_ best. The first place spot should be mine, but what do I get year after year? Lousy second! Ever since the first year I've always been in Herondale's shadow. Am I a little bit bitter? Yeah, I guess you could say that.

"Sir?"

"Get your mind off of Herondale's ass and pay attention," Mr. Bane says and I can feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. Without realizing it I had tilted my head at an angle that had me looking directly at Jace's rear end. " As you are all aware, it is the beginning of this year's term. With this being said, it is also time for our annual competition which will determine your rank ."

Ah, the competition. Our sweet, dreaded competition. Every year it was the same. We're all faced with different obstacles, courses, and some other bs that doesn't really matter. Every person completes the course and we are ranked based on our time. The only problem with this is that the courses each year are practically the same, which means that the rankings rarely ever change.

" When your name is called please step forward," Mr. Bane continues, " Simon Lewis. Aline Penhallow. Sebastian Verlac. Isabelle Lightwood. Jonathan Morgernstern. Helen Blackthorn. Alec Lightwood. Maia Roberts. Jordan Kyle. Kaelie Whitewillow. Max Lightwood. Seelie Queen. Meliorn Court. Clarissa Fray. Jace Herondale." Everyone who was called stepped forward; unaware of what was going on. I let my eyes shift down the line on either side of me thirteen people to my left, Herondale on my right. What in the Angel's name is happening? Mr. Bane comes to stand in front of us.

"Congratulations," he says, " You are the top fifteen students at Heart Academy. In this year's competition you will be divided into teams of three and compete against each other in real life situations, in the very situations that we train you to overcome. In this competition you will be looking for a key. This key will expose you to the most powerful substance in our world. If you do not know what this substance is then I suggest you try going a little bit more in depth with your studies.

The difference between this competition and others is that you will be going out in the world and posing as hard-working American citizens. This will be the first ever competition held outside of Heart. All of your expenses will be paid and accommodations will be taken care of as well. Before you receive your teams, I must give you one very valuable peace of information. For the duration of this competition no one from outside of Heart Academy must know that you are competing and if you are found out, you will immediately be revoked from the game and stripped of your chances of obtaining rank number 1."

I, along with everyone else in the room tensed. The competition this year was so uniquely constructed that for the very first time at the Heart none of the students knew what to do. What I'm trying to figure out is if this is some kind of sick joke. Some kind of test that we all failed by not being able to tell that it was a lie. But it seemed that with every blink of an eye, with every shuddering breath, clarity was capturing us in its strong grip. Confirming our thoughts even more, Bane began speaking again.

" And the teams for this year's competition are as follows," he starts, " Simon Lewis, Aline Penhallow, and Max Lightwood. Maia Roberts, Jonathan Morgernstern, and Helen Blackthorn. Kaelie Whitewillow, Sebastian Verlac, and Seelie Queen. Alec Lightwood, Jordan Kyle, and Meliorn Court. Jace Herondale, Isabelle Lightwood, and Clarissa Fray.

These teams are final and will stand until the very end of the competition or until the team is disqualified. Any association between two members of opposing teams will be seen as treason against the Heart and will lead to immediate disqualification of each involved team.

The competition will start tomorrow morning at 5am sharp and you are all to meet, with your teams, at Idris-Alicante Airport. From that point you will receive all necessary information about your new selves and which city you will be located in. Please get lots of rest tonight because I can ensure that tomorrow will be a very tiring day."

Herondale. Why is it always Herondale? It couldn't have been any other person besides that narcissistic asshole? This is going to be the worst competition yet, and it is all because of Jace Herondale.

As we begin filing out of the Assembly building in a somewhat less organized manner, I glance over at Herondale. He doesn't seem to be in a very good mood by the way his shoulders are tensed and his jaw locked tight. Well at least he seems just as upset as me about being put in each other's group.

When he sees me looking at him, his whole demeanor changes. No longer is he the pissed off teenager who didn't get his way. Now, as he casts me that cocky ass smirk he was once again the Jace Herondale that I knew and hated. He winked at me, and even though I turn sharply away, his gaze was like a shadow that clung to me until the steel doors of the entrance offered a reprieve.

One conclusion that I have come to about this whole competition is that however bad it seemed today, the games have only just begun and I know that with Herondale by my side they are going to be the most torturous of them all.

Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for reading, please review and tell me what you think so far.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: hey guys! I am so sorry that it has taken me forever to update but I started my first semester of college. Thank you for your support with both my stories, and updates will now become more regulated.**_

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 _ **Oesteffel: You will learn more about Magnus later on in the story so NO SPOILERS! lol. But he is around his mid 20s/early 30s. Clary's feelings will be explained throughout the story.**_

 _ ****_

 _ **Allieanna: Thank you so much! xx**_

 _ **A/N2: This will be more of a filler chapter as a Way for me to ease back into the story.**_

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Chapter 3

5:00 AM. Also known as the time of my demise. Not only was it too early in the morning to be alive, but it also marksthe beginning of my life (my fake life) with Jace Herondale.

Here I am, trappedin the middle of a blinding airport with the person that I hate the most in the entire world. Now I understand why most of you would think that my reaction is a little bit over dramatic, but I can assure you that all of my feelings  
are justified.

It would seem that Jace Herondale has dedicatedhis sole purposein life, other than being first rankthat is, to make _my_ life a living hell. Most of the other girls at Heart would kill to be in my position. I am pretty sure that  
they would die if Jace gave them half the amount of attention he gives me.

Speak of the devil. Mr. sunshine himself was walking straight towards me, only this time he had a very peculiar expression on his face. Then again, maybe it was just strange to see an expression other than arrogance on his face. Now don't get me wrong,  
he still had that confident aura around him, but he wasn't broadcasting it quite as severelyas he usually would.

"Hey Red,"he says in greeting, "I didn't expect you to actually be here on time. Hell, you almost beat _me_ here. Then again, you do seem to love secondplace."It was official, Jace was the most annoying person on the planet.

"You know Goldie, "I reply "I am not even going to justify that with a response. I am determined to at least attempt to enjoy myself while in your presence."

"Well of course you would, how could anyone be in my presence and not enjoy themselves. After all I am _quite_ an enjoyable person if you know what I mean." he tells me while waggling his eyebrows,"But wait! I seem to remember that you are one  
of the only girls at the Academy who wouldn't know what I'm talking about."

"Damn you Herondale,damn you and that god awfulsmirk of yours."

"Oh come on babe, you know that you love it." He says while looking up at me from beneath his eyelashes in a way that, I'll admit, made me tingle on the inside. Before I could come up with aresponse, I was assaulted witha very overexcited  
squeal that had come from atall, and leggy brunette. Otherwise known as the one and only Isabelle Lightwood.

" _Eeek_! I am like so excited about this year's competition! I mean, who would've thought that they would actually let us out of the academy. Don't you guys think this this will be fun? We can throw parties, and stay up all night,and we can  
even eat whatever we want! We might not even have to trainevery day!OMG, this is like,so amazing! "

I blink. Once, then twice. I seem to behaving a hard time absorbing all that was Isabel. I don't know what I was expecting her mood to be like but it definitely was not that.

Jace looked like he wanted to say something, but luckily the airport intercomcrackled into life at that very moment.

 _"Now boarding flight UA– 217, now boarding flight UA– 217 for a one-way trip to New York City."_

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After getting my luggage and carry-on in place, I went to look for my seat. I was very delighted to find that I was at the window and had an empty seat right next to me. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be as bad as I had thought.

"Wellwould you look at that Red, "said an all to familiar voice, "it looks like we're going to be planebuddies." I turn slightly in my seat to see none other than Jace Herondalelooking straightat me. I close my eyes and try to  
pray to whatever deityis out there that there has been some kind of mistake.

"Come on Fray," he says to me, "I bet this will be a lot of fun." However much I want to believe that statement was true I knew who I was messing withand I couldalready tell that this plane ride was going to be torture.

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	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your support with this story, your follows, favorites, and reviews mean so much to me!**_

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Chapter 4:

I was dreaming of a better world, a place where the name Jace Herondale was only a thought. I was just about to accept the 1st Rank award when I was struck in the face by a marshmallow.

I turned around in shock, trying to pinpoint the source of the attack, when I was struck again by yet another one. The only thing different about this time was that the marshmallow was accompanied by a chuckle, a very familiar chuckle. 

By this time I had already started to fade back into the realm of consciousness, and I realized that I wasn't being pelted with marshmallows. No, not marshmallows, spitballs. Sticky, gooey, disgusting spitballs that were being launched from the end  
/of a straw that was in between Jace's lips.

Once I was fully aware of what was happening I immediately slapped the remnants of the soaked paper off my face.

"What the hell are you doing!?" I asked him, "did you literally have nothing better to occupy your time with?" He just continues to stare at me with that stupid playboy smirk that always seems to be plastered on his face.

"Well?" I ask, "aren't you going to explain yourself?" He tilts his head to the side, as if contemplating his answer.

"I don't think I should have to explain myself," he tells me, "what I did seemed quite self-explanatory. You were sleeping, I was bored, end of explanation." He crosses his arms across his chest and leans back in his seat, feeling very accomplishedI  
would guess.

I decided to let it go, for now. Maybe all I had to do was treat him like a small child, ignore him long enough and he would just leave me alone.

My plan worked for a total of twenty minutes. I had finally started to drift back into the world of dreams when I was suddenly flicked on the nose. I bolted upright and threw an accusatory glare a Jace.

"What?" he asked, "it's not my fault that your nose is really flickable. I mean honestly, what do you expect a guy to do?" He started grumbling to himself as if somehow upset that I didn't appreciate his nose flickery habits.

The only thing I could do was shake my head at him and pray that he got some mental help... Soon.

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When Isabelle started to approach us, it was about a quarter after 6pm. I looked to my left to find Jace completely knocked out. It was kind of funny, when he was asleep he actually looked like a decent person instead of the jerk that he usuallywas.  
Maybe even a little angelic.

Based on the refreshed and elated expression on Isabelle's face, I could assume that she'd had better luck sleeping than I did

"Good morning!" she practically sang to me and a comatose Jace, "Aren't you excited? I asked the flight attendant, and she told me that we'd be landing at LaGuardia Airport in about half an hour so I think that we should go ahead and set up a gameplan."  
I look over at Jace slouching in his chair next to me.

"That's actually a really good idea Isabelle, but we should probably wake him up first." I thought about earlier today when Jace absolutely refused to let me get any sleep and suddenly an idea for payback presented itself. "On second thought, you

go get your things from your seat and I'll wake him up." She nodded her agreement and then skipped back to her seat.

It took me a second to get my plan organized. Even though I knew that I probably could have come up with a very detailed revenge plan, I decided to keep it simple. I was going to use his own tricks against him.

I look over a Jace one more time and then I make my move. Reaching over him silently, I placed my hand strategically over his face so that my middle finger and thumb (which were already placed together) were directly above his nose. 

I waited a few seconds, feeling his soft snores against my hand, and then with as much strength as my two fingers could muster, I flicked his nose.

Before I knew what was happening, my back was flattened against my seat and Jace's face was in such close proximity with mine that I could see the hidden chip in his tooth. I could see the storm that was hidden behind his gold irises. 

The atmosphere on the plane seemed to drop, it was as if the hurricane within his eyes had surrounded us and taken me captive.

"You wouldn't _believe_ what jus-" I flinched so hard at the sound of Isabelle's voice that I hit my head on the rails above me. "Oh, " she continued, "am I interrupting something?" We all sat there in an awkward silence, notsaying anything  
at all. Jace was the first of us to recover.

"Dammit Iz," he said while rubbing the back of his neck, "do you have to be so loud? Some of us actually have to sleep." With that said, he turned so that his back was facing me.

I don't know if it was the shock of what just happened, or the jet lag messing with my mind, but between Isabelle's disgruntled gaze and Jace's blatant display of disinterest, I almost felt...disappointed?

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